To have found my first mammogram really upsetting?

I've had 8/9 mammograms (a good few when ca was suspected).

I've ALWAYS been asked for my consent every time they manhandled each boob.

I've never had the same radiographer twice.

This is basic clinical care

But that really is NOT the norm, so we need to stop perpetuating the inaccuracy that it is. We have one person @YompingJo saying she had a bad experience, and she's already said she's given them feedback, but most of the technicians are very professional, explain the procedure and are as compassionate as they can be while having to process significant numbers of women in as efficient a way as possible.

@YompingJo mentioned it was in a cramped room, well imagine that being your day after day working conditions often in a portacabin in Tescos car park .... we all go in, have our scan and we're done. Those ladies are in there for hours, doing scan after scan after scan, so let's cut them some slack.

lets check our privilege.

You might have a point. But that doesn't mean healthcare staff can just treat people disrespectfully. Like: 'Oh well, you're lucky to be having a test like this, I'll manhandle your boobs any way I choose!'

I would suggest the other option is, as many on this thread have done, to reassure the OP that that is not the usual experience - yes, the machine crushing your breasts to take the picture is not part of a fun day out, but mostly the radiographers are aware of this and try to make the whole experience as human as possible, and bring an awareness of your basic personhood into it - and it is highly probably her next mammogram will be significantly better. I've rarely seen the same radiographer two mammograms in a row, and most are very kind.

Gosh are you a HCP who treats patients like pieces of meat then?

Your comment that it’s not OK to give feedback if you feel you’ve been manhandled as we should be grateful for medical checks in one of the richest countries in the world is disgraceful.

I wonder if you had the same person doing your mammogram as I did OP.

i had the first one last year. I am not autistic but I was quite unnerved by the grabbing of my breasts (I would have preferred to have to option of positioning them myself (!), shoving my arms up and how painful the squeezing in the machine was. I know they probably have to fit a lot of people in and are doing it all day but it is too much to expect to not be treated like a herd of cows having their udders checked?

I’m sure men wouldn’t put up with their balls being grabbed, legs pushed open and pushed into a vice!

Just amazed that women don’t see that it’s wrong to be manhandled without that first being discussed
A minimum level of ‘bedside manner’ is a prerequisite to all healthcare professionals.

Of course someone should not have touched your breasts without first explaining why. Of course you should complain.
Clearly the person dealing with you has forgotten their professional responsibilities to their client….ie you OP

On a more positive note it seems you just got a bad radiologist as most on here have had more considerate and professional experiences so you shouldn’t let this put you off for next time.

Another poster upthread has just suggested that the OP’s experience might put her off ever going again for a mammogram. My head is 🤯. The NHS isn’t anyone’s mum! It’s a taxpayer-funded service that is available for use. Go, don’t go; use its services, don’t use its services. 100% the OP’s choice, and what I meant by “just don’t go next time”, leaving unsaid “if it’s that awful”. Nobody is holding a gun to OP’s head, she has the right to roll the dice and take a chance on potential breast cancer not being detected too late. Many many women do.

I will never understand this sort of attitude. If a woman is old enough to be entitled to a routine mammogram on the NHS, she’s old enough to think these things through like an adult. If the room is too tiny, the machine too intimidating, the radiographer too curt/terse, if you feel manhandled - don’t go again 🤷‍♀️. What other options are there? Getting the world to bend to you isn’t an available choice when you’re talking about the allocation of scarce resources. Yes, minimum standards need to be met. It doesn’t sound to me that they weren’t (at all!).

Thinking back to recent medical stuff, just this year, which has included an MRI, ENT at my ears and a couple of gynae outpatient investigations, at three different hospitals and they've always told me what's going to happen, even if it's telling me, rather than asking me - "I just need to reposition this," "I'll be putting two fingers inside as I feel your front," - I've always been told what's happening next, and quite often they have checked I'm okay, and tell me to indicate if I'm not. I'm fairly sure my mammogram was like that, too, that I was told what would be happening. (ENT was the one I found most difficult, as it turned out.) I wonder if different health regions focus more on patients than others?

For my mammograms, I've been told "I'll need to help position your breasts" as a sort of blanket warning at the start rather than "I'm now going to reposition your breast" as it was happening, IYSWIM.

It didn't bother me, but then I am NT and acknowledging the breast wrangling as little as possible was fine with me.

I think next time, it would be good to say something like "I would be more comfortable if I was told what you are about to do before each time you have to handle my breasts".

They'll have heard all sorts, OP. They'll have had women with possibly cancerous masses and cancer patients who are tearful and scared.

I was talking about telling the OP, as I quoted:

Just don't go next time.

HTH.

It is the staff that saw OP that is doing that, not OP herself. She is sharing her story because she is upset, and rightly so.

People who work in healthcare, especially those that are dealing with intimate body areas, should have good bedside manner, put their patients at ease, and above all explain things and obtain consent.
I trained as an HCP, and I would have failed my patient facing OSCEs (practical exams) had I acted like the person OP encountered.

OP could now potentially be put off having further mammograms as a result of her experience.

Equally, the OP could put someone off having a much needed mammogram, and their breast cancer goes undiagnosed.

I found out a had DCIS after one, and needed to lose the breast.

I can still sympathise with the OP though.

What is upsetting is the minimising the upset OP has experienced with the whole 'cancer is worse' thing. Of course it is, but OP could now potentially be put off having further mammograms as a result of her experience.

Imagine going through breast cancer treatment and being treated the same as OP was during her mammogram. No consent sought, no explaining or reassurance. Just being man-handled and grunted at. I bet if that was a AIBU, all comments would be people in uproar.

Not all people with a diagnosis have SEN though. Even at a school level, the SEND Code of Practice is based on need not diagnosis. It is really not unusual to have children in the school with autism who are not on the SEND register.

You know what's even more upsetting? Being told you have breast cancer after having had a mammogram.

Mammograms save lives, and it's far preferable to have a slightly unpleasant experience for five minutes, and then go about your life as normal, than to have to deal with years of horrible cancer treatment following the results of said mammogram, regardless of the technician's technique.

You're not being unreasonable, at all. I had a mastectomy in 2018 and still have an annual mammogram on my remaining breast. I had to feed back the attitude of the mammographer last year, because I found her attitude to be similar to what you'd experienced and it was awful. Turns out she'd had several similar complaints.

When you go for a mammogram, you're vulnerable. The mammographer should explain every single thing that they're doing and make the experience as comfortable as possible.

And my last one a fortnight ago bloody hurt, possibly because of the stage of my cycle I was at.

The term SEN encompasses all ND conditions. It doesn’t mean that you struggle with education in the same way that a person with dyslexia might.

Consent just means they ask is it ok to touch you. Not a signature on a form. I'd be very surprised if they didn't ask. Anyway that doesn't make it ok. It is not up to the patient to remind the professional how to do their job

You are wrong, they are supposed to ask for consent. Turning up to an appointment does not imply consent. It takes a matter of a few seconds to ask for consent. There is enough time allowed within the appointment for this as it is part of the procedure. The person doing the mammogram is a qualified professional and they know this. If they can't be bothered to do their job, for whatever reason, they shouldn't be there.

I think it makes all the difference if the person is kind and understanding. As an absolute minimum they need to ask before they touch you. I would complain. It is not good enough.

I had one and while not pleasant, the person was polite, respectful, explained things, warned when it was likely to hurt, made Smalltalk to lighten the mood. That is how it should be.

It’s typically part of the procedure @SwordToFlamethrower A quick Google shows images and videos of mammographers doing this.

They have no right to manhandle a patient.

Hi OP,

I am really sorry to hear about your experience. My mother experienced the same treatment, she was shoved around. We made an official complaint. For those telling OP to ask for help next time- yes she should if she wants to be but there is a bigger problem here! No healthcare worker should be treating anyone poorly- they should be respectful. It is unacceptable to be treated in such way.

How exactly do you get a mammo without strangers laying their hands on your breasts? By telepathy?